Chugging along in a whale of a 15-foot moving truck towing my itty bitty economy car, my stomach twisted and turned inside me at the mere thought of the massive city that lay before me.

Checking my mirrors, the sleepy little town made famous by Steel Magnolias twinkled and vanished in the distance as my epic journey to the big city began.

Leaving a town where the center of social activity revolved around a grocery store and where the local delicacies are pies stuffed with spiced meet, I knew my senses would be overloaded with all that is metro Atlanta.

Not knowing what to expect, leaving behind the swamps of the bayou state blindly moving to a new city and a new state, I, nonetheless leapt at the opportunity to discover life in the city.

Torn between a mix of road-weary fatigue and pure fear of the sprawling metro Atlanta abyss, though, I forged onward.

But, much to my surprise, some of the charm of the town I left behind resides here in Jonesboro. Unlike Natchitoches, though, grabbing some hot grub in the middle of the night doesn't require a tank of gas and a short road trip.

Tucked among the madness that is the metro Atlanta Mecca, Jonesboro sits in the shadows of the big city skyline, yet preserves its small town coziness.

With more lanes than my previous town had red lights, the moment I dreaded stared me in the face n my first challenge, the challenge of the expansive interstate system.

Would the car that could fit in the palm of a child's hand survive its first encounter with the beast - the serpentine concrete giant that swallows wind-up cars like mine for breakfast?

But, as the town of Jonesboro welcomed me with open arms, the highways did the same. Breaking to let my toy-like car enter and attempt to bob and weave through the traffic safely.

Let me just thank my fellow motorists for not running me over and for being patient with my car which is lacking in the acceleration department.

And, who knows, maybe in a few more days I'll actually know where to go now that I understand how to go about the road system.

So, if you happen across a miniscule car putting along as if lost amongst the towering buildings, please continue to be kind and pardon the sudden stops and constant u-turns. Thanks.

Greg Gelpi has joined the News Daily reporting staff and will be covering a variety of stories. He can be reached at ggelpi@news-daily.com or at (770) 478-5753 Ext. 247.